


Point of no Return

by Lovepepperpoppers



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, One Shot, POV Shane, Random & Short, Sorry Not Sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-24
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2020-01-31 07:16:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18586408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lovepepperpoppers/pseuds/Lovepepperpoppers
Summary: Shane has a friend who he has feelings for, but he won’t admit it. One night he waits in the Stardrop saloon for her, but instead finds out that gravity is a force to be reckoned with.





	Point of no Return

**Author's Note:**

> So uh, this is my first thing. Not only is it the first fiction I’ve written in like a decade, but I also have only been lurking around here for a short time. Please let me know if I’ve mistagged, or misrated, or broken some etiquette.
> 
> As for the story, I’ve been writing a longer work and needed a break from chapters of Shane just refusing to take a hint. I thought I would write a quick short where things are more direct, and somehow things just went off the rails so yeah...this happened.

It was a Friday night and Shane was at his usual spot in the Stardrop Saloon. It was full tonight, about as full as it’s ever been and it seemed like everyone was here, except for her of course. The farmer. She usually met him here after he was done from work and had done so without fail for months now. Now she was late and Shane was realizing how awkward it was to stand alone, especially sober. He took a deep drink of his gingerale and about choked. It was a super spicy version that the farmer had gotten Gus to start carrying for him. It packed a punch, and he gladly took another sip and let it burn all the way down his throat.

They had been spending a lot of time together lately. He wasn’t sure how exactly that happened but they sort of fell into a routine. She would often meet him early in the morning to walk him to work on her way to Pierre’s or Jodi’s or the mines. Friday night inevitably found them here where they would share a pizza and he would have the few beers he allowed himself, but only in her presence where she could give Gus the eye if it started to look like more than a few. On the weekends they had lunches, played video games, had picnics on the dock. When the weather was chilly they sat around a bonfire on her farm and roasted food on sticks. Despite all this time Shane still found himself looking forward to seeing her again even minutes after she left.

He had started to worry about the feeling of something opening in his chest every time he saw her. His therapist has started to ask some pointed questions about his _friend_. **Friend**. He couldn’t ask for more, what she had done for him was ready too much. He knew he liked her, liked her liked her. Lately every accidental contact with her skin felt like electricity. Sharp and raw, and well, shocking. He tried not to get too close but it sometimes felt as if he was pulled toward her. As if an inescapable black hole had taken residence in her chest and if he leaned in too far he would pass the point of no return and be sucked in falling forever. A wooden creak came as the saloon door opened and it took everything he had to keep his head still and instead glanced out of the sides of his eyes. It was only Maru going to join her parents. Yoba, where was she?

Shane had worked himself worried now. He had started to gather up the resolve to leave and look for her convinced she had been in a mining accident or something when the saloon door opened again and she walked in. Normally the farmer wore her work clothes of sturdy denim overalls and a flannel shirt still slightly dusty and sweaty from the farm. Tonight though, she had showered and wore a light colored loose diaphanous sleeveless dress. _Diaphanous_? Jeez Shane, he thought to himself, where did you even pull that from?

She glided to the bar where Emily gave her a mischievous smile and handed her a sparkling water. Is that Emily’s work? He noticed he wasn’t the only one staring. Even without the novelty of it he thought she was pretty enough to turn heads.

  
She came over and stood to his side and it took all of Shane's will not to look over and down at what the corner of his eye told him was an expanse of smooth skin. How far down did the neckline go...? No no _no_. He clenched his jaw so hard he thought his back teeth would crack. She sighed beside him and his legs almost buckled at the sound. He braced himself more securely against the wall and took a sip of what was now a very flat and very warm gingerale. The burn at the back of his throat made him feel ill.

  
“Hey” she said.  
“Hey”

  
She smelled like yellow sunflowers at midday, like the cracking sharp ozone next to a struck lighting rod, like fuzzy pollen dusted buzzing bees.  
The ice in her glass tinkled. He couldn’t not say something.

  
“So what’s with the outfit?” He tried to sound casual.  
Idiot, why would he say that. He should have complimented her at least. What if she was self conscious?

  
But she laughed and smiled. “I’m trying something different tonight.”  
“Oh?”  
_Oh_ , all could make out was oh.

  
“Yea” she took another sip and continued, “you know I’ve been here for a few years now...I’ve got a good farm, good friends, but you know it gets lonely up at the farm sometimes.”

She looked him right in the eyes and bent close to his ear.  “I think I’m ready to pick someone up tonight” she whispered conspiratorially.

Shane somehow about choked on his own tounge. Of course this was bound to happen eventually. He had been steeling himself for this. The day she, a young eligible woman, decided it was time to find a lover. He knew they couldn’t be BFFs alone together forever. Be supportive you ass, he told himself. But all that came out was another “Oh”.

  
She leaned in again and he felt his face burn as if the wrath of every extra hot ginger ale he had ever consumed had come back with a vengeance.

“So...”she said. “Any suggestions?”

He about died right then and there. But no, he thought, she is my best friend, my only friend, the ~~love~~ ~~of~~ ~~my~~ ~~life~~. He would do anything for her including apparently getting her laid by someone else. And if they broke her heart, well he would just have to murder them. He narrowed his eyes at the thought of some asshole jilting her. He would have their head, to play murderball with, you know after the murder.

  
“Shane? Shane?”she sounded worried.

  
“Hmm?” He said.

  
“You just kinda zoned out there for a moment. Maybe you uh should stop gripping your bottle like that.”

He looked down to see his knuckles streaked with bright bone white and a violent scarlet.

“Sure” he said slowly loosening his grip.

  
She looked up at him concerned. Hesitant. Shit, he was going to lose her. Be cool, Shane, be cool.

  
He scanned the crowd, “so uhhh who did you have in mind?”

  
She relaxed, “do you have any suggestions?”

  
The thought of recommending anyone to her bought bile to the back of his throat, but at least this way she might get someone she deserved.

“Uhh, not Alex.” Her finally made out.  
That was dumb, real dumb, but not as dumb as Alex at least. Plus he had a sneaking suspicion if he ever had to murder him then Shane would be the one getting his ass kicked. God, he thought, I’m a chicken even in my own murder fantasies.

  
She laughed. “Okay you got me there, not Alex, I mean he’s nice and all but no.”

  
Shane relaxed. “Haley then?”

  
“No” she scrunched up her face. “We are not...compatible.”

  
“Not even for a night of love?” He teased, embolded at her turning down the two most conventionally attractive people in the room, as far as most people were concerned anyway. They didn’t hold a candle to her.

  
She was the one figeting now. “I was thinking more along the lines of something that as least had the possibility of being more of a long term thing.”

  
Shane’s felt a quiver in his stomach. A one night stand he could deal with, but a relationship. He would be out of the picture so fast or worse yet a perpetual third wheel.  
Still.

  
“How about Emily?” She was after all about the closest thing to another friend he had, if they ended up together that wouldn’t be so bad. Right? Right? No that would be awful he would have absolutely no one then, shit.

  
“Hmmm” she said “I like Emily, but she’s a little too out there for me. I mean, she’s just best in small doses.”

He nodded. He had thought the same those years ago when he was desperately lonely and looking for anything to fill that void. Emily was great but man the crystal dream woo woo was down right exhausting at times.

“Leah?”

”She’s my friend” she said, “and there is zero chemistry there.” His heart sunk a bit wondering if she thought that about him.

“Maru?” He said looking at the table where she was with her parents.

 

“Nah” the farmer replied, “too analytical. Anyway, she’s going to get out of here the first chance she gets.”

“Harvey?” He said it then immediately regretted it. He may not have thought much of him, but the dude was a doctor and perfectly normal as far as he knew. They could really work...

  
“Hard pass” was all she said. He looked over surprised and she continued, “ _hard_. Pass.”

Okaay he wasn’t going to ask about that. Moving on.

  
“Elliot?”

She chortled “I want to be ravaged tonight, not talked to death”.

He felt himself blushing at her directness. He had been having such a good time he almost forgot the purpose of this exercise. Shit, shit, shit.

  
“Clint” he said more because he was directly in front of them and he needed to say something, anything, before his brain was finished processing all this.

  
“No, he’s just, no. Plus it would make upgrading my tools awkward.”

  
Ah, he would have found that hard to believe, but still he felt such a wave of relief when she said it.  
He was running out of people when a clattering of pool balls caught his attention.

  
“Sam?”

”Dear lord no, he looks and acts like he is 16.”

Whew, he thought the same when working with him. He comforted himself with the fact that one day all that Joja cola was going to come back and bite him in the ass.

  
“Sebastian?”

”The same except with more makeup” was all she said. His lips twitched at that one.

  
“Abigail?” He was worried about her. They had always seemed like they got along.

“No, she is too young too. She wants to get out in the world and I want to make a life here.” She said while stabbing her drink with her straw. That worried him a bit. It wasn’t such a definite no.

  
He rescanned the room, that seemed like most of the eligible people. Lewis despite being too old was almost assuredly with his aunt. Dimitri and Jodi had a happy marriage as far as he knew. Same with Pierre and Caroline. Pam was too old and an alcoholic, plus just down right unpleasant. Of course someone could say that about him as well.

  
“Willy?” He said.

  
“Pass.”

  
“Gus?” She just glared at him.

  
“Well that’s just about everyone” he said. He was frustrated now, and wanted the whole thing over with. “You either got to lower your standards or go home alone.” She stood there staring at him. Waiting?

Then finally,  
“I don’t see you lowering your standards” She glowered into her glass.

  
He grimaced. He didn’t want to admit to her that being in a alcohol fueled funk all the time was not exactly conducive to romance. Of course once he got to a place where a relationship might be feasible...well he could not begin to think of anybody but her. Even at the height of his grid ball playing days when he got more attention than he could use, well, the few girlfriends he had weren’t exactly close. Yoba, he thought, could I even remember their names? This life was probably a fit punishment for that. He ended up silently staring at the floor at a loss for what to say.

“Fine” she said. “I tried to make this easy on you. I guess subtle wasn’t the way to go, not that this was subtle.”

He looked up at her. “Wha?”

  
She brought up her drink and finished it off by loudly sucking in the straw. Her lips puckered again to draw out the last bits of water. His eyes watched her neck and saw her swallow, her lips part, her eyes open. He could no longer feel his toes. He felt himself lean in. She looked up at him through her eyelashes, when did she get such eyelashes? The sounds of the crowd were muffled as if he were underwater. _Shaaane_ , she said. Her voice like molasses, or was he hearing correctly? Was he drowning where he stood? A smile slowly streatched across her face, gleaming, revealing more and more teeth, looking like it was going to keep unfolding forever. Oh and what large teeth she had, _all the better to eat you up with._ Oh no no no. Shit.

He was going too far. He had leaned in too close. Was he breathing? He felt a pull in his chest. His eyes widened in surprise, then he felt it again, another insistant tug. Her hand was bunched up in his shirt, and she was dragging him towards the door. Faces on either side stared, smiling. Marnie was grinning like an idiot. Help, he wanted to shout. He was drowning, he was dying, he was caught and couldn’t let go. The world had shifted when he wasn’t looking. Something had changed and he missed it and he wasn’t breathing was he? He tried gasping and his lungs inhaled the cold night air. He felt like he had been struck up side the head with the night.

In front of him she floated glowing like the moon. He stumbled and about dove headlong into her thighs which seemed to be the only thing he could see at this point. Oh that skirt was much too short. He was jerked up and his vision settled back on her face, her wild smile, her eyes glittering in the dark. She tugged him again. _“Hurry hurry”_ she sang. He huffed and realized the were passing the moonlit lake. The lake where they had...  
“Oof” She pulled at him again this times towards the right, towards the road to her farm. Oh no. Not this. Not me. Anyone but me. But the weight in his chest insisted you yes you only you. All you ever wanted. All we ever wanted. _We?_ He thought. Then looked up at her, hand on his shirt, around his wrist. “No” he said in the smallest voice he could croak out. What if? What if? She pulled his close and spoke directly in his ear, her breath hot:

  
“It’s too late, we’ve gone to far. I cannot see myself spending this night without you.”

  
“But” he stammered “but?”

  
“Do you feel that” she asked?

  
Feel what? He felt as if his body was thrumming, was he shaking oh Yoba. She leaned into his face and this time spoke into his mouth, her lips brushing by his:

“If we pulled apart now we would both surely die.”

She turned in her heel and Shane was jerked forward again. The stars spun overhead the night reverberated with large mournful wails. Tears were streaming from his face. Oh how he had wanted this, and yet, she couldn’t, and yet. Oh yes she said you and only you. You should have accepted that much earlier or we wouldn’t be in this mess.  
“What’s happening?” He managed inbetween panicked breaths.

  
“This sort of strong attraction, mutual, but unfulfilled, it’s dangerous. The Valley has written us a happy ending and you’re rejecting it. Magicks like that can’t be trifled with.” Did she say that it did it come from above where a shadow perhaps I an owl swept by.

He didn’t understand, he was still stuck on her saying mutual. But he knew didn’t he? He had hoped, but he wasn’t a complete idiot he knew those looks and touches and long nights...what they must have meant to her. He shuttered, the earth shuttered. They were on her farm now moving quickly. Animals cried out. Fireflies darted by faster and faster. Wait, where they fireflies? Was it even summer?

  
His feet hit the steps and the farmer all but had to lift him up towards the door. Her hand loosened on his shirt and lay flat against his chest for a moment before sliding up his shoulder and then down to his hand. She leaned up against him and with her other hand placed his palm flat on the smooth wood of the door. She looked down at the floorboards.

“You do have a choice in this.” That was her this time though her mouth barely moved.

She stroked the hairs on the back of his hand before letting go, leaving his hand alone on the door. He looked back from where they had came and saw only darkness. He looked at her trembling on the steps impatiently waiting. He looked at the warm wood of the door and let himself actually imagine getting what he wanted, and deserving it. Deserving this. He took her by the waist, pushed open the door, and they both fell headlong into the light.


End file.
